South Island farmer Tony Peacock said the 18-month-old bull was one of three washed away earlier this month when the west coast region experienced its worst flooding in almost 80 years.

“We had a massive dump of water we weren’t expecting and got caught out by not having stock on higher ground,” he told AFP.

“It was daylight by the time I realised how bad it was, and by that stage they were gone. I never thought I’d see any of them again.”

But a week later, Peacock received a call saying one of his bulls had been found on the riverbank at Westport, about 80km away.

“It was a big surprise, as you can imagine,” he said, noting the bull survived a 10m drop at the Maruia Falls during his watery adventure.

He said the Hereford breed bull, which was identified by an ear tag, is being transported back to the farm and would be retired after returning home.

“We’ll be keeping him, he’s become a local legend now,” he said. “He’s more famous than anything else we’ve produced.”

Peacock said the local school is now holding a competition to find a suitable name for the celebrity heavyweight.